February 26, Training

On Saturday the Ohio Flyers club had their annual meeting. So I drove out to Columbus Bolton Airfield and met a number of other area pilots that I haven't met at the field yet. The meeting consisted of socializing, talking about membership, site upkeep, and other club business. Many people also repacked their parachutes.

Sunday looked good to fly so a number of us students showed up for another day of towing. Another pilot named Ken was also there to fly his brand new Wills Wing U2. He unboxed it and set it up to fly in the afternoon. It was cool to see a brand new shiny hang glider fresh from the factory. While drooling over the glider I was surprised how loose the sail on the U2 is when the VG is off (Variable Geometry is a setting that can be adjusted in flight that changes the shape of the wing). On the U2 VG does an amazing job taking the sail from loose and billowy to drum tight. My Horizon has VG too but the difference between VG full on and full off is much smaller. At least visually in the looseness of the sail. However, now that I've had a few more days flying on the glider I'm starting to get a better understanding of the differences the VG makes while flying. What I haven't learned is when to use VG in order to take advantage of the performance changes. Do I use VG while thermaling? Should I use VG while towing, while landing, etc. Most people that I've talked to say this will eventually become a feel thing, or personal preference and I'll just use what "feels good" without "over-thinking" it or trying to calculate the absolute optimum VG setting for the situation.

I had 7 tows on Sunday. The winds were 6-12 mph and 20 or so aloft. So on the ground it was certainly an exercise in ground handling in strong conditions. The tows tended to be turbulent when you were towed up through gradients or rising air but otherwise it was sunny and warm and the air was buoyant with small pieces of lift to be found. I had a few good landings but I mostly I felt like I struggled. Most everyone flying also had some troubles so maybe I can blame it on conditions. Regardless I think I should be able to fix a number of things in order to improve my consistency later. A couple times I made poor approaches and ended up with wings not quite level during round out. This meant I was fighting to keep the glider under control when I flared and once I put my feet on the ground. The ground effect and the difference between wind speed down low and higher up meant that my glide along the ground was changing on approach. So at the top of my approach, it looked like I was right on track to land at the target cone. But as soon as you pass through the gradient and into ground effect your speed along the ground is suddenly much greater. So I tended to overshoot most landings by a little bit. And in one case a lot.

My 7 tows puts my total to 54 scooter tows since H2 for a total of 3 hours 30 minutes of flight time.I recorded all 7 flights but (as usual) I haven't looked over the footage or edited it together yet but I'll do that later today and post the finished product here.